


The Trouble of Basic Bilinguals

by orphan_account



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-14
Updated: 2016-08-14
Packaged: 2018-08-08 19:05:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7769527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Cariño," Lance breathes into Keith's skin. "Querido, oh, Keith, sweetheart,"</p><p>"Lance," Keith whispers. "Lance.</p><p>In which Keith has feelings, Lance is free with pet names, and boys are boys.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Trouble of Basic Bilinguals

**Author's Note:**

> First Voltron fic, man, I love Voltron so much.

_"Cariño," Lance breathes into Keith's skin. "Querido, oh, Keith, sweetheart,"_

 

_  
_

_"Lance," Keith whispers. "Lance."_

_  
_

_"What, querido, what is it?" Lance asks, kissing Keith's neck, almost absentmindedly, which is perfect. "Tell me what I can do for you."_

_  
_

_"Say it again," Keith says. "Call me -"_

_  
_

  
_"Cari_ _ño," Lance say, looking directly into Keith's eyes. "Te amo."_

 

<line break>

 

It's a stupid dream, and Keith knows it the instant he wakes up. He grasps for it nonetheless, holding tight to the feeling of the dream, of the odd clarity of Lance in it.

 

It's dumb, it's a stupid, foolish dream, both literally and metaphorically. It's awful, feeling this, and Keith knows he'll suffer for the rest of the day, especially when he's around Lance.

 

Lance. Awful, dramatic, idiotic Lance, who has completely stolen Keith's heart away. And damn him for that, it's incredibly inconvenient and quite terrible feeling. Also, it's the worst possible timing for Keith to be having a crush (because that's what this feeling is, of course, it's a crush) especially on a teammate, and it's so hard, sometimes, knowing that forming Voltron means people can potentially see into your head and what then, what happens then with (admittedly _very_ bisexual) Lance who doesn't see him that way and probably never will.

 

Which isn't to say they aren't friends. They are, somehow, and Lance doesn't spit out anymore ridiculous rivalry banter unless he's teasing, which Keith is slowly getting accustomed to.

 

What he isn't getting accustomed to are the pet names.

 

Lance uses them for everyone, Keith knows, calls Hunk "precious" or "babe", tosses around "little sweet thing" for Pidge when he's feeling particularly ridiculous, and calls Keith.

 

Well.

 

He'll call Keith anything. Shiro demands respect, Allura would roundhouse him, Coran is - well, Coran, and Hunk and Pidge are both earth-born Garrison teenagers, so they're free-range, and for some reason, Keith is as well.

 

Lance usually uses Spanish endearments with Keith, like " _cari_ _ño_ " or " _querido_ " or even sometimes " _peque_ _ño_ " which hurts Keith's pride more than anything else. 

 

But it hurts Keith, deeply, whenever Lance uses them because he knows, he knows so well, that Lance will never mean them how Keith wants him to.

 

Which is why it's stupid, clinging to that dream, stupid and dumb and irresponsible and ridiculous and now he's listing off adjectives that really should apply more to Lance than anything else and _why can't he stop thinking about Lance_

_  
_

Keith sighs, on the track to slowly accepting his fate, and gets up. He should really have gotten up earlier to train a bit before breakfast, but instead he decided to angst like the drama queen Lance accuses him of being.

 

And again with Lance.

 

This, Keith thinks, is going to be a long day.

 

<line break>

 

"Alright," Hunk says at breakfast. "I'm going to try something new for dinner today, so I'll be experimenting with that unless anyone needs me."

 

"You should be good to go with that," Coran says. "It'll still be a few days before we arrive at the nearest Galra controlled planet."

 

"And why aren't we using a wormhole again?" Lance asks, for the millionth time.

 

"It's best to preserve what energy we have," Allura replies. "As well as to stock up on supplies, which we can do in this relatively peaceful area."

 

"Yeah, Lance," Pidge says, already finished with breakfast and fiddling with Rover (Pidge only hasn't left yet because Shiro insists on everyone gathering together for breakfast and dinner, to maintain proper relations and talk amongst each other, like a family) (Shiro didn't add that last bit, but everyone knows it's there, even Keith). "So shut up about it already."

 

"Hey!" Lance says. "First of all, rude. Second of all, I'm bored."

 

Keith sighs. He knows what comes next.

 

"Get Keith to entertain you, then." Pidge grumbles, and Keith really feels like pounding his head on the table.

 

"Keith," Lance says, stretching out the vowels. "Buddy, pal, chum, _me amigo, querido,_ what do you feel like doing today?"

 

"Having some peace and quiet for once." Keith grumbles half-heartedly. 

 

"Come on, man, you don't really mean that!" Lance insists. "You totally love our bro-time."

 

Ouch. That stings, just a bit, "bro time" like it's just friends, which it is, because Lance is _not_ in love with Keith, nope, and so Keith must suffer.

 

"Whatever." Keith says, not nearly so grumpily as he would have before, or as Pidge would have, since Pidge is most emphatically not a morning person.

 

(This is probably because Pidge is up all night with gadgets, but that's besides the point.)

 

"Let's train," Keith says, already standing up and moving to leave, knowing Lance will follow him."

 

"Be safe, you two," Shiro calls after them, ever cautious, ever caring. Kieth holds up a hand in response, while Lance calls back, "Yes Space Dad!" which is bound to make Shiro blush (again).

 

<line break>

 

It's after two hours training that Keith realizes that he feels much better. This is probably in no small part because he's been hitting things, and yeah, he's got anger issues, he knows, but it's a way to deal with feelings, so that works.

 

It's also, possibly, a little bit, because he's been with Lance, and as much as that hurts, it also feels good, being near his object of affection like that.

 

" _Cari_ _ño_ , that was great!" Lance exclaims, taking his helmet off. Keith unconsciously moves one hand to his chest, his heart aching at the sentimentally pet name.

 

"Stop." He says, in a voice much less steady than he'd like.

 

"No, it really was great - " Lance insists, because Lance is like that, because Lance is supportive, because Lance _doesn't understand_.

 

"That's not what I mean." Keith says. "Stop with the stupid pet names already, it hur - it. It isn't right, okay?"

 

"Huh?" Lance asks. "You mean. You know what I've been saying?"

  
He looks a bit panicked at that, which doesn't fully register with Keith, who is very much caught up in his own emotions at this point.

 

"Yes, I know what they mean." Keith says. "I grew up in Texas, you know how many Spanish-speaking people live there? I know exactly what you've been calling me, and you need to stop."

 

"Well," Lance says, squeaking slightly and wincing. "This is unexpected and painful. I'll stop, and I'm. I'm sorry that I made you uncomfortable."

 

"It's not that," Keith says, frustrated and not really thinking before speaking (typical of him, he knows, but he forges on ahead regardless). "It's the opposite of that, Lance."

 

"What?" Lance asks, looking very confused, which just makes Keith all the more frustrated.

 

"I know you don't mean it like I want you to!" Keith cries out. "I know you mean it like when you talk to Hunk, and yeah, Hunk's a great guy and it's cool that you're friends, but Lance, I don't want to just be your friend."

 

His words echo around the training room for a long moment.

 

"I..." Keith says, stepping backward, ready to run.

 

" _Dios mio_ ," Lance breathes. " _Querido_ , I...I had no idea."

 

Keith feels ready to scream, ready to run, ready to fight, ready to let all of this energy and hurt out of himself, ready to just be done.

 

"Don't," He says, and his voice cracks, but Lance just surges up to him and kisses him, hard. Keith grasps at the back of Lance's head, holding him close, and gives back fiercely, kissing and kissing and breathing in the smell of Lance, which is pretty sweaty because of training, but also full of a wonderful truth, this close.

 

" _Te amo, cari_ _ño,"_ Lance says, once they break apart. "I like you, Keith. I'm so sorry, I never meant to hurt you, I was just so afraid and I thought you wouldn't know - "

 

"Shut up," Keith says, half on instinct. "I like you, too, you moron. Now kiss me again."

 

Lance does, and it's wonderful, and the words echo through Keith's head. 

 

  
_Te amo, cari_ _ño._

_  
_

_Te amo._

**Author's Note:**

> Cariño - sweetheart
> 
> Querido - dear
> 
> Pequeño - Small one
> 
> Or roughly that. 
> 
> The Texan Keith thing was 100% inspired by [ klanced ](http://www.klanced.tumblr.com) on tumblr (great blog).
> 
> Find me at: [ pennamepersona.tumblr.com ](http://www.pennamepersona.tumblr.com)
> 
> [Buy me a coffee!](https://ko-fi.com/A375K8Q)


End file.
